Rob Van Dam vs. Chris Jericho – WWE Monday Night Raw Recap for 07/15/2013

WWE Monday Night Raw

07/15/2013

Brooklyn, New York, New York

 

-We begin with the lights cutting out and a drumroll sounding.  We are greeted by Brad Maddox.  He really does seem like a little Eric Bischoff.  Already, he has decided to match up Dolph and ADR tonight.  Brad is cut off by John Cena’s theme.  Cena is not treated like a hero, of course.  Cena wants to give him the benefit of the doubt at the start of his tenure.  Maddox gives Cena the right to choose his opponent for SummerSlam.  Already the fans are calling for Bryan.  Cena threatens to wrestle a Bella.  Heh.  Randy Orton disrupts and enters the ring.  Orton is growing out his EVIL beard, but wants to come out to say that he will not immediately cash in his contract.  Orton says that when he cashes in, Cena will never see it coming.  He’s going to cash in after a blindfold match during Raw Roulette?  Fandango comes out to an enormous pop.  This is Fandango Country.  Fandango tells Randy that he’ll be cashing in on him.  Fandango challenges Cena, and sneakily almost gets him to say his name.  Orton jumps Fandango and they brawl.  Maddox quickly turns it into a match.

 

Randy Orton vs. Fandango 

We come back from commercial with Fandango in control with kicks and stomps.  Orton blocks a suplex and gets one of his own.  Fandango goes outside, but Randy chases him down.  They scoot through the ring again, but Randy chases ‘Go down once more and hits a clothesline before dropping him on the crowd barricade.  Back inside, Orton gets two.  Fandango gets the boot up on a corner charge and chokes Randy in the ropes.  Fandango grounds Orton with a neck vise as the crowd begins to chant random things.

Orton hits a back body drop and punches away in the corner.  He hits the standing dropkick for two and takes target with some stomps at Fandango’s hands.  In the corner, Fandango hits an enzuigiri and sends Orton outside.  ‘Go runs him into the steel steps and poses atop of them for the crowd before we go back to break.  Fandango hits the rope guillotine as we come back for two.  He goes back to the neck vise, before Randy begins to fight back.  Fandango counters the backbreaker with a belly to back suplex for two.

Orton counters a couple of punches with some of his own and follows Fandango into the corner with a clothesline before hitting the Exploder.  Up top, Orton hits the top rope superplex.  Randy hits a couple of clotheslines and hits the powerslam.  Fandango counters in the ropes and gets a foot up.  ‘Go goes to the top but gets crotched.  Orton pulls him off of the corner for the hanging DDT.  Orton calls for it, much to the crowd’s delight, and hits the RKO for the win.

Final Thoughts:  It was a good, solid match that showcased some good work from both Orton and Fandango.  The crowd started to drift from all of their energy, even pulling of a wave at one point, but overall, they were game.

-Backstage, Dolph is walking and AJ catches up to him.  Dolph says that it’s time to move on, and the apologies are over.  AJ is happy, but Dolph just outright dumps her to an overwhelmingly positive reaction.

-Also, Mark Henry is heading towards the ring, wearing a suit and a great tie.  We come back from commercial with Henry entering the ring.  Mark puts over Cena to jeers from the crowd.  He laments on his failures.  The crowd chants that he tapped out.  Mark lets them know they’d all tap out as well.  Henry says that he wants the job of facing Cena at SummerSlam.  The Shield’s music hits and they are on the way down, quickly.  They circle the ring as Henry shrugs and unbuttons his jacket.  He makes sure to trashtalk them before they enter.  The Shield quickly piles on top, but Henry powers out.  Ambrose hops on top with a sleeper, and Reigns cleans up with a spear.  They set up and hit the powerbomb before standing victorious.

-Jericho is backstage with Maddox in Brad’s office.  Brad recommends that Chris takes on Rob Van Dam to impress John Cena.  Chris reacts quite positively to the idea and applauds Brad’s ideas.

 

Alberto Del Rio vs. Dolph Ziggler

ADR beats down Dolph to start and whips him.  Dolph hits a dropkick from the whip and just gets one.  Ziggler wrenches and hits a neckbreaker.  Dolph hits ten elbow drops in a row to get two, and does so to a great reaction.  Dolph misses a corner splash, and slams his head on the ring post.  ADR kicks away at him.  Del Rio lifts Dolph into the corner and hits the reverse superplex for two.  Del Rio slides down and chokes Ziggler in the ropes.  ADR misses a corner charge and Dolph hits a corner splash and a flying clothesline.

Dolph takes a holy shit bump out over the top rope and splatters to the floor!  Dammit, Dolph.  This is Raw.  It must have been at least eight feet high and from the ring and right onto his face.  We come back from break with Ziggler fighting back, but getting beaten down.  Si Kick misses, but Dolph gets pressed and dropped to the mat.  ADR follows with a stomp.  Dolph comes back with a tornado DDT from the corner.  They slug it out in the middle of the ring, but ADR pulls back on the rope and then charges forward with a harsh right hand.  ADR follows with trashtalk but misses a charge.

He hangs up in the ropes and takes a dropkick from Dolph for two, getting a foot on the ropes.  ADR dodges a Fameasser and hits a German suplex for two.  Del Rio hits a series of headbutts and cracks an evil smile.  Dolph reverses the cross armbreaker into a tight neckbreaker for two.  Dolph misses the Fameasser again, and ADR hits the corner enzuigiri for two.  ADR puts Dolph into the Tree of Woe and kicks away.  ADR misses a charge and goes shoulder first into the post.  Dolph comes back with a second rope Fameasser and crawls into the cover.

AJ shows up and rings the bell, distracting Ziggler so that Del Rio can rush in and nail Dolph from the blindside with a Si Kick for the win.  AJ stands over Dolph after the match and begins to slap away at him.  Big E comes on as Dolph tries to fend her off and runs him over.  Langston hits him with The Big Ending.  AJ picks up Dolph’s head and gives him a kiss before leaving him unconscious.  AJ cries as she heads up the ramp, but that doesn’t mean anything at this point.

Final Thoughts:  It was a great match between the two until the ending, which was still nicely done for the most part.  Dolph has done a great job getting ADR’s new, vicious offense over.  Ziggler killed himself in putting everyone over in this match.  There truly is an art to losing in such an extravagant way.

 

-R-Truth comes out to rile up the crowd, but is interrupted by The Wyatt Family, who come out with their badass entrance theme and all of that.  The big bearded guys quickly beat down Truth as Bray just rocks away in his chair.  They toss him from the ring and await further orders.  Bray comes in and takes the microphone and tells the crowd that their heroes are lies, but he is not.  Truth shows up on the apron with a chair, looking for revenge.  Bray tells his goons to leave and tells Truth to take aim, daring him.  Truth hesitates and gets beaten down once more.  Bray gathers him up, kisses him on the forehead and hits him with a Downward Spiral.  He tells Truth that he is not the truth they seek, and for Kane to “follow the Buzzards.”  Nice and creepy.

 

The Real Americans vs. The Usos

Zeb spouts off about the lack of English spoken in Brooklyn.  He implores John Cena to choose Antonio Cesaro or Jack Swagger.  The Usos won this opportunity via fan voting.  Jey and Cesaro start and, quickly, Jimmy is tagged in.  He rolls up Cesaro for one.  Jimmy gets a shot on Swagger before taking the gut wrench.  Swagger comes on and stomps away before hitting the Swagger Bomb.  Swagger punches away in the corner and brings in Antonio.  Cesaro hits a double stomp and gets just one.  Jimmy fights out of the corner and leaps over Cesaro to bring in Jey.  Crossbody from the top gets two.  Superkick takes out Swagger, and the uppercut leaves Jey and Cesaro alone.  Jey reverses the gutwrench into a sunset flip for the quick win.

Final Thoughts:  The match was far too short to mean anything, save for the Usos’ victory that helps give them momentum and promises further TV time.  I can get on board with that.

 

Damien Sandow vs. Christian

Sandow attacks to start, and bails to the outside after a whip.  He runs off, but Christian tricks him, letting Damien elbow the mat as he gives chase.  Christian gets dumped to the outside and pulled back in for two.  Sandow lifts Christian onto the top turnbuckle, but takes a tornado DDT for two.  Christian hits some right hands and hits a forearm before going into the corner.  Christian dodges a charge and trips Sandow into the ropes, hitting the right hand and going up top for the crossbody that gets two.

Christian hits a second rope back elbow and goes for the Killswitch.  Sandow reverses into a Russian legsweep and goes for The Elbow of Disdain.  Christian reverses and gets the pin for the upset victory of sorts.  After the match, Sandow attempts to remind the fans of his status, but Cody Rhodes flies into the ring and beats away at him to a great pop.  Sandow runs away through the crowd with the briefcase as the crowd shows Cody favor.

Final Thoughts:  The match didn’t have much of a chance to really get moving, but the fluke roll up win for Christian works here.  Also, it was a good moment for Cody to come out before a hot crowd and get a small measure of revenge on Sandow.  However, I could have done with a Sandow win to help him remain strong.

 

-Earlier today, Vickie, with megaphone and sandwich board, campaigns for fans to sign her petition on the concourse.

 

Brie Bella vs. Naomi

Brie hits the armwringer and takes Naomi down, but gets greeted with nip ups.  Naomi hits a flipping clothesline for two and throws Brie outside.  Naomi is tripped up on the apron, however, and Brie gets two.  Brie stomps away and throws Naomi by the hair.  She follows with a Camel Clutch in the ropes.  Brie gets two after slamming Naomi back into the ring.

There’s a long resthold but Noami comes back with a sunset flip for two.  Brie comes back with a flying clothesline and goes to a neck pinch.  Naomi flips out of the suplex and hits a hurricanrana and a dropkick to the hands.  Noami hits the Rear View and goes up.  She hits a crossbody for the win.

Final Thoughts:  A surprising decent match, really.  The crowd didn’t care, but popped for some of Naomi’s offense.  Naomi is a bit of draw when you’re watching, as she is quite gifted, athletically.

 

-CM Punk comes limping down to the ring.  Punk takes the microphone and mentions that Paul and Brock are both in the building, and he’s not waiting any longer.  Paul comes out, and not Brock.  He says that he’s looking at an empty ring, as CM Punk no longer exists.  Paul takes credit for Punk’s achievements.  All of them, actually.  Heyman points out that Punk has nothing outside of the affirmation from wrestling fans and his need of the WWE Championship.  Punk declares total war on Heyman a few moments later, saying that he’ll go through everyone who gets in the way between him and Heyman.  Heyman then brings out Lesnar to fight with Punk.  Brock throws him around the ring and dispatches CM after each time Punk fights back.  Lesnar hits an F5 onto the announce table and walks off with Heyman.  I’m not doing this segment justice.  It was excellent.

-Backstage, Cena has an awkward exchange with Khali about The SummerSlam.

-In Brad’s office, Stephanie shows up and asks HHH a question off-screen of how Maddox is doing, as Brad doesn’t notice HHH standing behind him.  They warn him of Vince’s wrath for giving Cena the opportunity to pick his opponent for SummerSlam, leading us to believe that he is not at all a fan of Daniel Bryan. This took about four minutes when it could have been in just one minute.

 

Rob Van Dam vs. Chris Jericho

There’s a lockup to start and they battle over a waistlock.  There’s a stalemate and Rob makes sure to point those thumbs.  Jericho hits a couple of chops and Rob Van Dam comes back with a few forearms.  Off the whip, Jericho hits a dropkick.  Off of another whip, Van Dam floats over and takes Jericho down.  RVD hits the monkey flip out of the corner.  Van Dam hits the standing moonsault for two.  Jericho ducks a legsweep and hits an enzuigiri for two.  The crowd begins to chant for Jericho now, and loudly.  Chris follows up with a belly to back suplex and hits a kick to the back just before we go to break.

We return with the two battling on the mat.  Off of the whip, Jericho rolls through and looks for the Walls.  Jericho slingshots into the corner and RVD goes in awkwardly.  Jericho gets two after RVD rams his head into the turnbuckle off of the slingshot.  Jericho goes back to the stomps.  Chris hits a baseball slide that sends Van Dam out and onto the floor.  RVD flips out of a suplex from the apron and hits a kick to the mouth for two.  Rob Van Dam moves to the body scissors but Jericho spins around and is able to pick Van Dam up for a powerbomb from the mat.  That gets two.

Van Dam comes back and sends Jericho scurrying from the threat of a Rolling Thunder.  Van Dam scoots out and hits a moonsault from the apron.  We hit another commercial break. We return with Jericho holding RVD in an ARMBAR.   Off of the corner whip, Van Dam races in and hits a spin kick right to Jericho’s chest.  RVD hits a couple of clotheslines but takes a couple of shoulderblocks in return and takes an axe handle off the top.  Jericho spikes him with the running bulldog but misses the Lionsault.  RVD hits Rolling Thunder and that gets two.  Van Dam hits a back elbow out of the corner, but misses a kick and gets planted with a DDT in the way that only Van Dam can.  That gets two.

Chris goes for the Walls, but RVD rolls out, hops up, and kicks Jericho in the face.   Chris goes for the bulldog but goes into the buckle.  RVD misses the split-legged moonsault and Jericho gets the Lionsault for two.  Chris takes RVD into the corner, but gets knocked to his back with a kick to the face.  Jericho chases RVD to the top but gets thrown off and hit with a senton for two.  Jericho counters into the Walls off of the ‘rana attempt, but Rob gets to the ropes.  Jericho kicks away, but gets caught with the step through, reverse enzuigiri.  RVD goes to the top and hits the Five Star Frog Splash for the big win.

Final Thoughts:  This was a great match that got much better towards the end.  In the early stages, it felt a bit disjointed at times, but really roared as it carried on.  I felt like this was almost a test for RVD, to see if he could still handle the rigors of a long, intense match in front of the old crowd.  He didn’t disappoint, and nailed his old spots well, as well as having much left in the tank for the frog splash.  With Jericho leading the match, he spaced out all of Rob’s big spots to make them have much more meaning.  I suppose that this was better than any match Rob Van Dam had in TNA.

 

-It’s decision time for Cena.  The wrestlers stand at the top of the ramp.  Jericho stands next to Ryback like nothing happened while, of course, Jack Swagger stands next to Rob Van Dam.  Zack Ryder stands off to the side and has the same look on his face that MarShon Brooks had when being revealed by the Boston Celtics during a press conference today.  Cena is having trouble making his decision, though.  He can’t do it by himself.  He needs the honesty of the fans.  What seems like the entire arena begins to chant for Daniel Bryan, but we’re not there yet.  Cena starts to call out some names to find out how the reaction would be to the match.  It’s a no to 3MB, but Cena reminds the crowd to not hinder Jinder.  Cena asks the crowd about Sheamus.  Miz is amused as Sheamus gets booed soundly.  Cena asks the crowd if he’s forgetting anybody, teasing the crowd quite nicely.  He selects Bryan, who had been hiding behind other wrestlers on the stage.  I get chills here as Bryan gets about 15,000 people to thrust their fingers into the sky and answer the challenge along with him.  Oh yeah, this is what it felt like when Austin or The Rock had a big moment.

 

–Alright.  This was a terrific show.  Looking at the big picture, it clearly set up CM Punk vs. Brock Lesnar and Daniel Bryan vs. John Cena as the two main events of SummerSlam.  Bryan Danielson is main eventing SummerSlam.  The best wrestler on the planet is arguably, the most beloved.  Well, probably not in Tulsa.  Brad Maddox’s first show was quite entertaining and his presence is a breath of fresh air.  The longer he stays as some type of charismatic, beloved (in his mind), Eric Bischoff type, the better.  The Wyatt Family are poised for big things, and Cody Rhodes is reaching an important stretch that could define his role in the company for years to come.  As for what happened tonight, we received a decent Orton and Fandango opener, a good match between Alberto Del Rio and Dolph Ziggler where Dolph was decimated and lost everything in terrific fashion, Jericho helping RVD prove that he still has it, Brock smashing, and a satisfying main event segment.